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But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.

C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

It is no secret that I love Lewis as a Christian writer and especially love the fictional story, The Horse and His Boy. Among other reasons for appreciating the book, I found that it seems to use the themes in the message of Proverbs to illustrate the same truths about maturity and wisdom.

My conversation about the book with my friend Andrew Isker is embedded at the bottom of this post for you, if you haven’t watched it already.

But, as much as I loved the book, I want to disagree with the quotation above. Or at least nuance it.

Continue reading “Don’t Waste Your Slavery”

I remember (distantly, vaguely) being taught to ride a bicycle as a young child. My parents shouldered the burden of teaching me. I am glad I don’t remember in detail all the whining they had to put up with or the extra encouraging and cajoling they had to practice to get it to happen.

Don’t misunderstand. I desperately wanted to ride a bike, at least in theory. One of the few childhood tantrums I remember was over getting a bike. But getting one is not the same as being able to use a bicycle. And wanting to learn to ride feels different as a distant desire than it feels when you are wobbling on the unsteady seat, realizing that your father is about to remove his hands that are holding you up. You are going to have to pedal, steer, and stay upright on your own.

Continue reading “Do You Trust God to Praise You?”

One of the most basic abilities a person must possess to have a chance of working with others and being productive is “self-control.” “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Proverbs 25:28). According to Luke, the need for self-control was a basic feature of the Apostle Paul’s preaching (see Acts 24:25).

While my book is about what SOLOMON SAYS (Amazon, Kindle), sometimes it might be helpful to consider what his father, King David, sang.  And what he might have taught Solomon to sing. For example, God speaks through King David:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

Psalm 32:8–9 ESV

Continue reading “Self-Control Is Self-Training”

Proverbs is made up of books—seven by my count. Though some split it in two, I think all of Proverbs 31 is an oracle by King Lemuel’s mother warning him about women and drink and encouraging him to value a godly wife.

I am not the only reader who has noticed that the books of Proverbs seem to begin and end on a similar not. Proverbs 1-9 is features exhortation to respond to the invitation of Lady Wisdom and spurn the seductions of Lady Folly, which parallels the exhortation to be faithful to the wife of one’s youth and resist the temptations of the adulterous.

Continue reading “Lady Wisdom & King Lemuel’s Mother”